Coal India Ltd.

Coal India has reportedly received its board’s approval for long-pending proposal of the national miner to set up a 1,600 MW pithead power plant in Odisha entailing an investment of Rs 11,000 crore.

Nearly 800 acres at the coal-rich Sundergarh district has been earmarked for the project. The land was originally acquired for coal mining. While the 7-8 million tonnes annual fuel requirement can be sourced from the nearby mines, the Odisha Government has offered 50,000 cusec (cubic ft per second) water for the project.

The company’s board has also approved five new mining projects. However, two large projects such as Garjanbahal (13 mt) in Odisha and Pelnma (15 mt) in Chhattishgarh will take years to start production. Garjanbahal is linked to the 52-km Jharsuguda-Barpalli-Sardega rail link that will take at least two years to become operational. Pelnma is linked to the Bhupdeopur-Raigarh-Mand (180 km) line. Construction of the project is yet to begin.

Coal India is the world’s largest coal mining company. It also produces non-coking coal and coking coal of various grades for diverse applications.